Govt must act to avoid the worst of NIWA’s climate projections

New climate projections from NIWA underscore how urgently climate action is needed.

“A future of flood and drought painted by NIWA is the reality of an unabated climate crisis,” says Green Party Co-leader and spokesperson for Climate Change, Chlöe Swarbrick.  

“These projections show us that climate delay is the new denial, and emphasise how this Government’s plan to increase emissions will cost us all dearly.

“We can have an economy that works for people and planet, instead of exploiting both. That means stopping pollution at the source and ensuring a just transition.

“Instead, the Government’s draft Emissions Reduction Plan relies on technologies that are not guaranteed and planting pine trees. This lack of ambition will take us off track to reach 2050 carbon neutrality, and worse, compound inequality. Luxon’s over-reliance on market mechanisms will cost the poorest New Zealanders four times as much money as the wealthiest.

“We cannot ignore inconvenient truths. We’re talking about the hard scientific fundamentals necessary for life on earth as we know it. This can and must be yet another wake-up call to meet the climate crisis with the scale of transformative action it requires.

“The climate crisis is no longer a yarn about future generations. We’re talking about the growing risk of climate-change-charged weather like the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle becoming all the more commonplace in our lifetimes, directly exacerbated by immense pollution enabled by negligent Government policies.

“It’s time for Christopher Luxon to show some leadership and live up to his own word that we will meet our climate commitments - which his own Government policy plans currently themselves say we’ll miss,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

Latest Climate Change Announcements

Story

Luxon government backtrack on climate recognised at COP30

Aotearoa New Zealand has today been recognised internationally for all the wrong reasons, presented with the ‘Fossil of the Day’ mantle at COP30 ov...
Read More

Story

Luxon’s Government shreds climate consensus

Late last night, the Government announced some of the most significant sweeping changes in recent memory to destroy climate action.
Read More

Story

Govt’s Climate Adaptation plan leaves work to be done

The Government’s National Adaptation Framework, released this morning, has a way to go when it comes to clarity for communities, support, and meani...
Read More

Story

Govt’s downgrade of methane target an accounting trick with devastating real-world consequences

Luxon’s Government halving of methane targets under the guise of “no additional warming” is a cheap accounting trick that will cost our country dea...
Read More

Story

Govt’s ETS auction fails for the eighth time

Another Emissions Trading Scheme auction has failed, throwing the Government’s failure on climate into stark focus.
Read More

Story

Govt pours oil and gas on climate fire as ban repealed

Today, Christopher Luxon’s Government committed to higher power bills and fossil fuel dependence. This Government keeps choosing to undermine our r...
Read More